Was listening to The Great Fail podcast, I think it was, the Quibi episode? And a guest hypothesized that the concept of "traditional" stardom was obsolete, or at least getting there.
That is to say, we're approaching a time when there just aren't "stars" EVERYONE knows.
And the longer I think about it, the more I agree.
I've lost track of the number of "famous" people with a fanbase in the millions I literally only hear about after they're basically over, or when they fuck up badly.
Half the time I settle in for a half-hour of YouTube teaspill bullshit, I have to Google the subject.
Your parents or grandparents would have never, EVER slow-blinked and been like "I'm sorry, Lucille Ball who? Tom Cruise what?"
And really, that's an inevitable byproduct of more accessible media production and distribution means and platforms, isn't It? it's no longer a baker's dozen of backlots in California producing EVERYTHING an entire country sees and hears.
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A pal shared this site with me, and I'm pleased to announce I've made Twilight Sparkle say "I blew out my butthole" with astonishing accuracy of tone and verve. 15.ai
Honestly, in retrospect, it was surreal as fuck. Dude was practically in a trance, saying the same shit over and over. We quit with the nervous ha-ha-yeahs early, and he just kept going.
(Also, I believe that, in your twenties, a lot of people, especially introvert nerdy types who perhaps spent the 2000s thinking "I'm gunna make COMIX on the INNERNET," are still getting a bead on what's socially normal/acceptable.)
An important element to understanding this shit is knowing a lot of newspaper guys, at one point every one who bothered to even have public opinion on the matter, had incredibly bizarre and self-obsessed theories about webcomics. The primary one being we were out to destroy them.
It went something like
-We were all obviously failed newspaper cartoonist aspirants jealous of their platform/wealth/talent/etc.
-Therefore, we devised a plan to put comics online for free, so ppl wouldn't buy papers for them
-OBVIOUSLY the only reason anyone bought newspapers??
By the time it was shuttered, it had run its course, I agree with that. It was time to go. But it was near-unusable LONG before that, thanks to ppl gaming the shit out of it and ruining the spirit in which it had been founded.
For folks unfamiliar: Project Wonderful was an ad network that wasn't EXCLUSIVELY for webcomics, but heavily used by webcomic artists and other "geek media" type sites. It was grassroots, easy to be a part of, and ran on an auction model.
- No Patreon.
- No Kickstarter.
- No Webtoons.
- No Gumroad.
- Few, if any, e-z auto-storefronts.
- Also the rest of comics openly hated/mocked you.
Replying to @Iron_Spike
Also, this was the time when people were straight-up "Oh, I don't spend money on the internet, I don't trust it. What if Paypal runs off with my credit card number?"
Yes, really.
The one reliable way to make steady money?
Ads.
YES, REALLY.
Let me introduce you to the concept of the CASCADE.
Early 2000s internet ad revenue was... something else. Five-fig payouts! And the key to min-maxing it was
1) Getting on the best ad networks, and 2) Making sure your ad banner code (hand-coded!) was ALWAYS serving SOMETHING.